Full Tilt Platform to be Retired on 17 May

By: Alan Graham/May 9, 2016

Amaya Gaming has announced that the Full Tilt Poker platform will be retired next Tuesday and the sites´ players moved over to the PokerStars platform.

The news that Amaya was going to focus on maintaining one online poker platform rather than two first broke three months ago, when the reason for the merging of the player pools was given as “players will benefit from a larger pool of players offering greater game choice [and] bigger prize pools”.

Although the Full Tilt website will remain operative after next Tuesday, any players who have Full Tilt accounts but not PokerStars accounts will find themselves playing on the PokerStars platform; whereas players who have both a Full Tilt and a PokerStars account will find their accounts merged into one.

Full Tilt Platform the Best in the Industry

The demise of the Full Tilt poker platform will be missed by many. Despite the theft of player funds by those in charge of the original site, the software was regarded by a lot of players as the best in the industry. From next week, the only remaining trace of the iconic software will be the unique player avatars.

As Amaya Gaming has said that the platform will not be sold off, the next few days represent the last chance players will have to fire up the Full Tilt client and enjoy playing on the poker platform or on some of the casino side games that will also be retired along with the poker platform.

How the Migration will Happen

Also over the next few days, Full Tilt players will receive emails informing them how the merger will affect them. Most players will not have to do anything as a software update will merge their Full Tilt and PokerStars accounts – combining cash balances and converting Full Tilt Points into Starscoin.

Amaya Gaming has estimated that only 30% of the Full Tilt database does not already have a PokerStars account, and these players have the option of playing on the PokerStars platform or cashing out their balances and playing elsewhere. In some jurisdictions (i.e. Italy), it may be necessary for players to close their Full Tilt account and open a PokerStars account.

Uncleared Bonuses and Unused Ring Game Tickets to be Converted

Players on Full Tilt, who are part-way through clearing a bonus, will not be able to continue clearing the bonus once they move over to the PokerStars platform. Any uncleared bonuses will be converted into cash on a pro-rata basis, except for players who purchased a bonus using Full Tilt Points at the Edge Store. Those players will just receive a refund of their Full Tilt Points, which will then be converted into Starscoin. Unused Full Tilt ring game tickets will be converted directly into cash.

As far as players´ VIP statuses are concerned, if a player has a higher VIP status on Full Tilt than they have on PokerStars – or vice versa – their status level will be elevated to the higher of the two levels. Players with a 100-day rolling average of 1,818.18 Full Tilt points will be awarded SuperNova status at PokerStars and retain their status automatically until the end of the year.

Deal Jackpot to be Carried Over to New Platform

Full Tilt players (but not PokerStars players) will be able to continue playing the Deal game – at least until the current jackpot of $170,000 is won. The jackpot game is likely to be paused next Monday before the software update, and be available once again to Full Tilt players after the migration is complete.

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